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3 Mar 2009 : Column 1506W—continued
Emergency Calls: Wales
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many non-emergency calls were made to (a) the English language telephone number and (b) the Welsh language telephone number in each police force in Wales in the last year for which figures are available. [256429]
Mr. Coaker: I have been asked to reply.
Data for the period from April 2008 to January 2009 are shown in the following table.
| Non emergency calls to Welsh Police forces from April 2008 to January 2009 | ||
| Number | ||
| Police force | English language | Welsh language |
| (1) Dyfed Powys Police began collecting data for Welsh language calls in November 2008 (2) English only used (3) South Wales Police do not collect force-wide data. The data shown here are for Cardiff only. | ||
Howard League for Penal Reform
Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 his Department has received from the Howard League for Penal Reform in the last 12 months; in respect of how many a substantive response has not been provided to date; what the date of the oldest such request is; and if he will make a statement. [259363]
Mr. Wills: The Ministry of Justice has received six requests from the Howard League for Penal Reform in the last 12 months. One—made in August 2008—remains outstanding. I can assure the hon. Member that this request is being treated with the utmost priority, and that the requester will receive a response in the near future.
Legal Aid: Children
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applications for legal aid the Legal Services Commission received from firms working on behalf of persons under 16 in each year since 1997; and how many were accepted in each such year. [259678]
Mr. Malik: The information is being collated and I will write to the hon. Member when it is available.
Legal Aid: Housing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applications for acts of assistance relating to housing the Legal Services Commission (LSC) received in each of the last five years; and what percentage of the total number of requests to the LSC relating to housing each figure represents. [259677]
Mr. Malik: Applications for acts of assistance by way of legal help are received by the supplier, for example the solicitor or advice bureau, and central records are not kept by the Legal Services Commission (LSC). However, the LSC does have records of applications granted in terms of the number of new matters started, as reported to it by suppliers. Table 1 as follows shows the number of housing new matters started in each of the last five financial years. These figures include matters started under Community Legal Service Direct telephone advice scheme introduced in July 2004.
The LSC directly receives applications for acts of assistance by way of civil representation. The number of such applications received for housing matters, and the proportion granted are shown as follows at table 2.
| Table 1: Legal help | ||
| Housing new matters started | Proportion of all new matters started (percentage) | |
| Table 2: Civil representation | |||
| Housing applications | Applications granted | Proportion of total civi l representation applications (percentage ) | |
Mentally Disturbed Offenders
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 15 December 2008, Official Report, column 474W, on the Bradley Review, when he expects to receive Lord Bradley's report. [260452]
Mr. Hanson: Lord Bradley has now submitted his report and the Government expect to be able to publish it, along with the response, before the end of April 2009.
Policing and Crime Bill 2008-09
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what sanctions would apply for the non-payment of fines imposed under the provisions of Clause 26 of the Policing and Crime Bill 2008-09. [257037]
Mr. Alan Campbell: I have been asked to reply.
Non-payment of this particular fine will be treated no differently to the non-payment of any other fine.
The Courts Act 2003 introduced a series of measures aimed at improving fine collection. These included making it mandatory that a Deduction from Benefits Order or an Attachment of Earnings Order be the first form of enforcement to be applied following default or history of default. It introduced clamping of vehicles, fines payment work (currently being piloted), fine increases and the registration of financial credit (which may affect their ability to obtain credit). Other enforcement tools include warrants of execution, delivery and/or possession (where a bailiff may seize goods, money and land to the value of the debt). Imprisonment is the ultimate sanction for the non-payment for financial penalties, where the court has exhausted all other enforcement options.
Prison Sentences: Ethnic Groups
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the comparative rates of imprisonment of (a) black males and (b) white males; how these rates compare with the proportions in the overall population; and if he will make a statement. [259554]
Maria Eagle: The most recent assessment of the comparative rates of imprisonment for both males and females together are as follows.
For British nationals, the proportion of black prisoners on 30 June 2007 relative to the population was 7.4 per 1,000 compared to 1.4 per 1,000 for white persons. For the overall population it was 1.5 per 1,000.
The latest data therefore indicates that black people are over five times more likely to be in prison than their white counterparts.
Data are not currently available for males alone.
Prisoners Transfers
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average daily number of prisoners transferred from each prison in England and Wales to another prison in England and Wales solely as a result of overcrowding was in 2008. [260446]
Mr. Hanson: Information on the reasons for every movement of a prisoner is not kept. Information will be held by the Inter Prison Transfer monitor on the total number of transfers carried out using the IPT fleet but no breakdown is available on the reasons for these transfers.
Prisoners: Expenditure
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much money has been spent on rehabilitating prisoners who had been considered to be violent and a threat to society since 1991. [260450]
Mr. Hanson:
The National Offender Management Service delivers a broad range of interventions to address the particular risks and needs of offenders. There are a number of accredited offending behaviour programmes
which address violence including thinking skills, anger management, domestic and other types of violent crime as well as sexual offending. A range of interventions is available for prisoners with an alcohol problem. Other regime activities such as training, education, work, non accredited courses and resettlement also have a significant part to play in reducing risk and preparing a prisoner for release. This work is delivered as part of prison baseline funding and it is not possible to disaggregate accurately the costs. NOMS is currently undertaking a specifications, benchmarking and costings exercise which will provide costings of the interventions delivered.
Reoffenders
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will commission research on the effects on the re-offending rate of (a) penal custody, (b) restorative justice programmes and (c) local authority secure accommodation. [259559]
Mr. Hanson: The Ministry of Justice has an ongoing research and analysis programme which addresses a wide range of interventions. The programme for 2009-10 is currently being agreed.
On (a) penal custody: Reoffending statistics are published regularly by the Department. The proven re-offending rate for offenders discharged from prison was 46.5 per cent. in 2006.
On (b) restorative justice: Between 2001 and 2004 the Government invested around £5 million in the crime reduction programme restorative justice pilots and their evaluation, including a two-year reconviction study. Four reports were published. Restorative justice has proven itself as a way of increasing victim satisfaction with the criminal justice process, and may also help to reduce reoffending for adults.
On (c) local authority secure accommodation: The Youth Justice Board commissioned a research study in 2008 which aims to explore reoffending rates of different types of custodial provision, including local authority secure accommodation.
References:
(a) Ministry of Justice (2008) Reoffending of adults: results from the 2006 cohort, England and Wales. Statistics bulletin
(b) Shapland, J., Atkinson, A., Colledge, I., Dignan, J., Howes, M., Johnstone, J., Pennant, R., Robinson, G., and Sorsby A. (2004) “Implementing restorative justice schemes (Crime Reduction Programme). A report on the first year”. Home Office Online Report 32/04
Shapland, J., Atkinson, A., Atkinson, H., Chapman, B., Dignan, J., Howes, M., Johnstone, J., Robinson, G. and Sorsby, A. (2006) “Restorative justice in practice, findings from the second phase of the evaluation of three schemes”. Findings 274. London: Home Office
Shapland, J., Atkinson, A., Atkinson, H., Chapman, B., Dignan, J., Howes, M., Johnstone, J., Robinson, G. and Sorsby, A. (2007) “Restorative justice: the views of victims and offenders: the third report from the evaluation of three schemes”. Ministry of Justice Research Series 3/07
Shapland, J., Atkinson, A., Atkinson, H., Dignan, J., Edwards, L., Hibbert, J., Howes, M., Johnstone, J., Robinson, G. and Sorsby, A. “Does restorative justice affect reconviction? The fourth report from the evaluation of three schemes”. Ministry of Justice Research Series 10/08
Mr. Grieve:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of offenders re-offended
within (a) six months, (b) one year, (c) two years and (c) three years of release from a custodial sentence in each of the last five years. [259616]
Mr. Hanson: Table 1 shows the one year reoffending rates for adults leaving custody in the first quarter of the years 2002 to 2006. The table shows the number and proportion of offenders that committed at least one further offence. The number of offences committed per 100 reoffenders is now the headline measure of reoffending—this has also been included in the table.
| Table 1: o ne year reoffending rates, offenders leaving custody 2002-2006 | ||||
| Cohort | Number of offenders | Number of reoffenders (1 year) | Percentage proportion of offenders offending (1 year) | Number of offences per 100 offenders (1 year) |
Two year reoffending rates are available for the 2000 to 2005 cohorts. The number and proportion of offenders that committed at least one further offence are shown in table 2.
| Table 2: two years reoffending rates, offenders leaving custody 2000-2005 | |||
| Number of offenders | Number of reoffenders (2 years) | Percentage proportion of offenders offending (2 years) | |
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